GOOGLE MAPS AND MY MAPS

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ABSTRACT: On the Internet are thousands of good maps, most of which can be found by Google searches and many are very helpful for family history. Besides finding online maps, Google has many built in and ways to make your own. These Google items are Google Maps and Google's My Maps. Google My Maps has tools for forming and editing your own maps. Examples of maps you could make are all the places you or an ancestor ever lived, the neighborhood where you grew up, migrations of you or an ancestors, a trip you are planning to take, where an organization's members live, or where important locations are in a large city. Making maps with Google My Maps is free and they can be made public or private. This class will discuss these Google map features. The notes for this class and
related articles, all with active Internet links, are posted on my website
http://uvtagg.org/classes/dons/dons-classes.html .

Tips: (1) To put an icon on your desktop for the URL
for these notes, or any webpage, just drag the icon in front of the
address in your browser to your desktop. (2) To open a
link while keeping your place in the original page, hold down the
Control key while clicking the link, so it opens in a new tab.

The problem for today: What are Google Maps and Google My Maps and how do you make and edit Google maps?

ABOUT GOOGLE MAPS AND GOOGLE "MY MAPS"

To find maps online that you might be interested in for family history or other uses you can do Google searches; also see my class notes about online maps on my website.

Google Maps and Google My Maps are two items in Google itself; Maps is where you find maps and directions you need; My Maps is where you make and edit your own maps

STEPS IN MAKING AND EDITING A MAP

Map menu > Help > All Articles -- has several good tutorial articles about making Google maps

You must be in My Maps to create or edit a map; if you started in Google Maps, go to Your Places and click on the option to open it in My Maps

While making a map, to avoid losing everything by inadvertently doing something wrong, copy it periodically by clicking on the vertical dots (upper right in menu panel) and make copies; I usually put the date and/or time in front of the title of the copy so I know which version the copy is; for some deleted maps you can find them in https://drive.google.com/drive/my-drive , but not always

Layers -- maps you make can have different layers for different kinds of items, but you can also just put everything in one layer; layers can be turned on or off together so everything in that layer shows or doesn't show; may be easiest to start with everything in one layer and later form other layers to move items to by drag-and-drop; examples of layers could be all locations where you lived, locations of schools you attended, locations of where you worked, locations of things important in your life such as churches, parks, playgrounds, etc.

Several ways to add locations: (1) by just clicking on the "tear drop" in the editing panel at top of the pop-up panel and moving it to where you want it; (2) by doing a search for the name or address of the place; (3) by uploading a file such as a spreadsheet with the data

Click Add To Map to save the point -- can edit name and description later and also move the point, if needed

To edit a location point click the Edit (pencil) in the pop-up window; when done editing click Save to save it with the changes

Data for every point in a layer is saved in a Data Table for that layer; to get to a layer's Data Table click on the 3 dots by the layer title, then Data Table; can edit data for any point in that layer right there; easy to make them more uniform there where you see the titles and descriptions together

Can add lines joining locations to indicate travel -- click on the little "Y" lines icon on the pop-up window; can click anywhere on the line and move that part of it to follow streets, etc.; and can check distances along these lines; can also find the area enclosed by a closed line

Can add pictures or videos to any location point by clicking on the camera icon on the pop-up window for the point

To rearrange the order of locations in a layer just drag-and-drop them in the order you want

If desired, add new layers and drag points from old layers to the new ones

Click Preview (at top) to see how the finished map will look; on both editing and on preview you can turn on or off the various layers by checking or unchecking that layer

The default is private for Google My Maps; to make it public click Share and follow the directions

IDEAS AND EXAMPLES OF GOOGLE MAPS IN FAMILY HISTORY

Maps about yourself or an ancestor -- where lived, worked, traveled, mission

Migration map of your ancestors of where they were born, traveled, moved, and died

Planning a family history research or any other trip -- include all the places you plan to go, addresses and information
about the archives and libraries, phone numbers, costs; plane or bus stations, etc. -- can find photos online and/or add you own as you travel; can record what you found there and details and share the trip, so relatives or friends can experience your trip virtually

Can make a map of where all members of an organization live; easy to upload the data from a spreadsheet and let Google place the icons and write the pop-ups

CONCLUSIONS

To start a Google map just use one layer and experiment with the tools and adding points and add other layers and move poitts to them later.

There are lots of good Google maps already made and posted and making one for yourself is not hard and has lots of uses.